


That Sinking Feeling

by tinyko



Series: Kolivan Needs a Hug [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, Long, M/M, Reunions, Self-Insert, Trans Male Character, Xenophilia, bit of a slow-burn, i kinda lost my shit during ep5 s7, i wanna be happy w kolivan, i was sobbing and this isnt a fix it but its helping an ditll get super fluffy next chap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 16:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15689337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyko/pseuds/tinyko
Summary: Leo wakes one morning with a bad feeling in his gut.Spoilers up to episode 5 of season 7, you should also read the two others in this series first.





	1. That Sinking Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> pbbbbbbbbbbbt i was vvvvv sad during episode 5
> 
> i also got my big fat gay crush on kolivan again, go back and read my other two too, i edited them
> 
> sorry to jump around a lot, i wanted to establish the scene some

As alarms blare and his friends all lay in various states, Leo finally understands the weird feeling he got this morning. He had woken up and his gut immediately told him something is wrong. Now, normally that’s nothing too serious to worry about, especially since he’s been drug out into space, shoved into a ten thousand year long war that he had no prior knowledge of and forced into some fucking crazy and wild situations. But this feeling he woke up with, it doesn’t go away. It lays heavy in his stomach all day.

Groaning with pain shooting into his side, he heaves himself up onto his elbows and looks around, trying to blink his eyes back into focus. Everyone else is in a similar state. Everyone minus Keith, Shiro and Lotor, that is.

Leo rubs his eyes and tries to push himself to his feet, his legs straining in protest. He can already tell his body is going to hurt tomorrow. Lance is by his side as soon as he’s noticed to be moving.

“Hey, easy, you got hit pretty hard.”

Leo groans, grabbing onto Lance’s arm, “Yeah, no shit. I hurt like fuck. How about you, are you okay? And the others?”

“We’re all okay. Well, except that Shiro flipped and stole Lotor and Keith is gone.”

Lance helps pull Leo to his feet and keeps a firm grasp on him until he’s steady.

“We also lost power.”

“What.”

Lance lets the older boy stand on his own, stepping back a bit, “Yeah, Shiro busted the power before he ditched.”

The shorter rubs his face, “Wonderful, lovely.”

He takes a couples small steps to make sure he’s got his balance alright before looking around again. Coran is getting up, helping Hunk to his feet and moving to a control panel. Krolia has an arm around Romelle as the smaller gets her barings again. He spots Allura off to herself and looking to be collapsing in on herself. He nudges Lance.

“Hey, go check on her. I think she might need a shoulder,” He says, tilting his head in Allura’s direction.

Lance glances over and nods, heading to checking in on the princess. Leo takes a deep breath and goes over the Coran at the main controls to see if he could be of any help.

\----------------

Now, Leo wonders, _this_ must be why he had that awful feeling this morning, as he stands in the main control room of the Castle of Lions, watching the Paladins, now forming Voltron, fight against Lotor’s designer brand Voltron.

The feeling not once left his stomach after the first incident of the day. He keeps trying to tell himself it’s the new Altean that’s giving him the weird vibes since she’s been shoved into this mess suddenly and they haven’t had time to get used to her yet. Though when he’s faced with the scene in front of him - a weird, off-brand Voltron disappearing and reappearing while beating on the OG Voltron - he thinks that _this_ has to be what the feeling was warning about.

Then, suddenly, they’re both gone.

“What?” Leo gasps and looks around to Krolia or Coran to see if he really did just see his friends vanish in a bright light.

With no indication from either of them that Voltron is still battling out there, he turns his attention back to the front, dread filling his small body. He finds himself grasping at the pendant on his necklace to praying, something he hasn’t done in years, as he always feared he was too far away for the Earth Mother to hear him, his lips moving in sync with the words.

_‘Please Mother, if you can hear me so far away, please let my friends be okay.’_

Coran’s voice jumps him out of his prayer.

“Look!”

Leo jerks his head up with his eyes wide. A portal, similar to what was appearing during the battle, splits open, and the Voltron they all know and love reappears. Alone.

“Oh this is not good.” Coran’s voice is filled with dread.

His explanation to the Paladins goes over Leo’s head, the small man only getting bits and pieces. And the pieces he gets shatters his heart. And once again, he thinks that _this_ must be the event that the feeling was forewarning as he realises that they must all abandon the place they have all come to know as ‘home’.

\----------------

His heart aches as he grabs what he can from his room. His small backpack is filled with what few items he’s acquired since he’s been in space and he tears through the small space to find that one item he cannot leave without.

The silver knife Kolivan gifted him so long ago.

Finally, as he’s digging through a box of mementos, his fingers feel the knife’s box. A weight settles in his stomach as he pulls it out and opens the box. He traces the designs carved into the handle and sheath with his fingertips. Taking a deep breath, he pulls it from the box, shoves the box into his bag and grasps onto the sheathed blade as he hurries out of the room.

He makes his way to the Yellow Lion and climbs aboard, nodding to Hunk and settling down near Hunk’s seat. Everyone is solemn and no words can express the feeling that hangs over them all. As they all take off, gathering a good ways away, he can't watch the destruction of the only place he’s known as home in years. He clutches the knife to his chest and squeezes his eyes shut to stop the tears from spilling.

Since he doesn’t watch, he doesn’t expect the shock blast. He’s jolted and falls over, his grip on the blade tightening before his world goes black.

\----------------

Leo stands over Shiro’s body, hoping for the final time that _this_ is what caused the feeling he woke up with. His tiny heart can’t handle much more. Keith digs his nails into his hands as he stands on the other side of the pod. Leo moves away, starting to pace off to the side. Eventually, Keith’s wolf nudges his legs and Leo sighs.

He sits down and pets the wolf’s head, running his fingers through his soft fur and hoping the motion will calm him down. None of them have had a moment of rest and the stress is truly starting to wear on the young man. He finds the silver blade in his pocket and pulls it out. His thoughts drift to Kolivan for a second, realising that they probably won’t be able to contact him for a good, long while.

Leo jumps when Keith bangs on Shiro’s pod, jolted out of his thoughts and pushed back into the here and now. The panic on Keith’s face is so clear and plain and Leo’s heart aches more. He prays that what he _thinks_ isn’t actually happening. After all of this, Shiro _can’t_ die. Not again. They can’t lose anymore.

With a small whimper, his covers his mouth with one hand, his other still clutched around the silver blade. The seconds drag by, each feeling like a heavy weight. No one speaks, no one moves.

When the pod opens with a hiss, Leo wants to cry with joy as Shiro sits up. For once, something had finally gone right.

\----------------

Leo is once more in Yellow with Hunk, exhaustion settling in his small body as they start their road trip home once more. He can’t help but feel jittery even if it’ll take a year and a half to get home. But he’s finally going home. It almost doesn’t feel real, like he’s going to wake up and be back in the Castle and the past few days have just been an awful, horrid dream. It all feels surreal.

A part of him aches, knowing that he won’t get to say goodbye to Kolivan. Just the thought of the Galra sends a wave of pain and nausea through his body, the feeling he got at the start of his journey hitting him deep in his stomach once more. He clenches his hands into fists to distract him from thinking too long or hard on the topic.

He tries to push it back and thanks the Gods when Krolia’s voice distracts him over the intercom system.

“It’s an old code, only senior members would know it,” Krolia speaks.

“So,” Keith starts, trying to find the words, “It could be Kolivan?”

Leo heart soars, his voice nearly getting caught in his throat, “If it’s him, we have to try to find him.”

And they do just that.

They all land down, and go into the base. The base is empty, abandoned. His heart breaks when the Paladins report this news back to those who stayed in the Lions. He clasps his hands together tightly and brings them to his lips, squeezing his eyes shut to fight back tears. The blaring of the alarm system causes panic to flare through him. Hunk barely has time to explain as they’re shoved into combat against a fleet of enemy ships.

He’s jostled around in the fight and he absentmindedly hopes that Katlenecker is doing okay. When he manages to get a glimpse out of Yellow, he grows confused.

“Aren’t those Lotor’s ships? When did they... make more?”

His questions go unanswered as shortly after, they’re captured.

\----------------

Fear courses through his body and he knows his heart is beating much too fast to be healthy. He tries breathing exercises, but when you’re captured, cuffed and shoved into a cell, they don’t often work. Lance nudges his side, the most he can do in comfort with his hands cuffed behind his back, but Leo appreciates the motion. It does calm him down the slightest. But when those two familiar faces stepped into the cell, it’s gone.

The bigger one - Leo can’t recall their names - looks much... older? Her one eye is milky and her voice sound different. How did this much time pass? They all only saw the three generals no more than a week ago. He’s caught up in his thoughts until the smaller grabs Pidge and Leo feels his stomach drop.

“No! Let them go!”

The general looks over to Leo with one raised eyebrow, “Oh? Are you going to substitute yourself?”

He steels himself, takes a deep breath, “Yes.”

Pidge is dropped to the ground and the next thing Leo knows is he’s hanging a metre in the air by the pink alien’s hand around his throat. He closes his eyes and grabs onto her arm with both his cuffed hands, kicking his feet. The larger starts to yell questions at the others, but nothing of what she says even registers to Leo.

When the alarm blares and he’s dropped to the ground, he coughs and tries to catch his breath. The dull pain from the very first incident when Shiro took Lotor seems to flare worse and he hopes that nothing got redamaged. He manages to get on his knees and looks over to Pidge.

“Are you okay?”

Pidge nods, “I’m sorry.”

Leo forces a smile, “Hey, it's not your fault kid. I’m good.”

They nod again and stand as Krolia makes her way to the front of the cell. 

\----------------

Three years.

They have lost three years. 

After learning this information, Leo feels his world stop. So much could change in three years. Is Kolivan...?

He stops that train of thought every time he comes close to thinking it. Curled up in Yellow, he spends the next couple of weeks praying to whoever can hear him that his lover is still okay. That he’s still alive and leading the Blades and they’re _winning_.

When Pidge pulls up some weird sitcom, he feels his body relax a little, but the moment Krolia speaks, that dreaded feeling fills his stomach again, the worse it has ever been. He nearly starts to wrench from the shear force of the feeling.

When they land on the planet, he wobbles a little as he gets out of Yellow. The feeling grows stronger and he feels like he’s about to pass out. He pushes through it, keeping close to Hunk and occasionally leaning his weight a little more into the Yellow Paladin. He feels half in a haze. He doesn’t pay much attention to what’s going on with the group, slightly dazed and trying to hold down the food he ate earlier, but Lance pulls his arm and he tries to keep up with the group, following a native. He leads them into a small cavern. Leo finally starts to tune in when Romelle makes a comment on the state of the set up.

“I have called this place home for two deca-phoebs,” the stranger comments.

“Well,” Romelle gets flustered, “‘Disgusting’ is Altean for ‘lovely’! You don’t speak Altean, do you?”

Pidge looks to the device on their wrist as it beeps some more, “This is where the signal was coming from, somewhere below us.”

“You are clever,” says the stranger, “But I wouldn’t expect less from the Paladins of Voltron”

Lance lowers his gun a little, “You recognise us?”

The stranger laughs a little, “Of course, of course. Though I am surprised to see you. All were certain you perished.”

“Yeah, we just found that out.” Lance shifts his weight. “But we’re back now.”

“And I am so grateful that you are. It’s been so long since I’ve had… guests.”

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Shiro says, “But who are you? What happened here?”

The stranger sighs, “Bloodshed happened here. Death happened here. I am Macidus. This is my home planet. But now I am the only one left alive here.”

Krolia gasps and pulls back a curtain in the back, revealing a wall of knives… a wall of Blades from the Mamora. Leo feels his legs weaken. Krolia aims her gun at Macidus, her face full of anger.

“What are you doing with these?” She demands.

Macidus lowers his head, “I hang them in honour of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe.”

Leo knees buckle and he nearly drops to the ground, his heart dropping and a coldness creeping into his chest. He covers his mouth and bites his lip to keep from crying. After all of this… He can’t just be gone. None of this can be real. Leo forces himself to keep grounded and focused on the conversation.

“How did it happen?” Krolia asks.

“It all started when Voltron disappeared, when - when you disappeared. The power vacuum that ensured destabilised much of the universe. Galra turned on each other. Warlords and pirates became the rulers of the land.”

“What happened to Haggar, the witch?” Allura asks.

“No one knows. But her Druids continued her work, carrying out her final orders. They set out to destroy every Blade.”

Leo clutches his silver knife to his chest.

Pidge takes a deep breath, their eyes widening, “After Lotor took over the throne, almost every Mamoran agent was exposed.”

Macidus nods, “And that’s when the slaughter began. All Blades were called away from their assignments and sent to this base. Kolivan knew they were being hunted and he wanted to make a stand against them. He believed it was their only means of survival.”

“That must be why they abandoned that base we found,” Romelle comments, her voice soft.

“Indeed.” Macidus lowers his head again. “When they arrived here, my people helped them fortify their base, but he Druids found us sooner than we hoped. They arrived here without warning.” He takes a breath. “The Druids encircled the base and besieged it with magic. After a long battle of attrition, the base fell. Casualties on both sides were enormous.”

Macidus raises his head, clasping his hands together, “My people were the first to try to escape. They were slaughtered.”

He takes a deep breath before continuing, “I stayed behind with Kolivan. He led those of us that remained to battle the last of the Druids. But for each one we managed to take down… nearly a hundred Blades would fall. In the final battle, I was buried beneath a collapsed structure. When I regained consciousness, I was the lone survivor.”

Leo feels his heart shatter, his breath caught in his throat. He looks up, desperate to see if this is just some sick joke, praying that Kolivan had just not been seen by Macidus, that he managed to survive. Tears shine in his eyes, needing little more to start to spill down his cheeks.

Macidus continues, “I’ve been sending the signal Kolivan gave me ever since in hopes of finding any remaining Blades.”

“There’s still of few of us left,” Keith says.

“Good.”

Krolia turns to the wall filled with the blades, running her hand over some of the hilts, “I recognise every one of these blades, I trained many of them myself.”

She pulls one from the wall and Leo’s stomach drops at the sight of his, more tears pooling in the corners of his eyes, and his voice catches when he tries to speak.

“If only I had been here… Kolivan…”

Leo can’t stop the tears dripping down his cheeks, spilling over his hand still clasped over his mouth. He tries to hear what happens, but everything sounds like he’s underwater and he feels like he’s drowning, sinking deeper and deeper. There’s sudden movement and a bright flash and he finds he can’t move.

He and all of the others are trapped in some containment field, frozen in place, and he feels tight and trapped. His chest aches and he just wants to curl up under his blankets and never wake up. 

He doesn’t know how long he and the others are stuck, but after what feels like hours, he finds himself on the ground, gasping and hiccuping. His heart still hurts and his world feels like it all comes crashing down on him. After all of this, after all of the fighting and victories… Kolivan is gone. And he died thinking Leo was… gone too. Romelle comes to his side as there’s a loud crash and a hole appears in the floor.

“Leo?” 

The young man, looks up to her, eyes watery, “K-Kolivan… I should’ve gone with him…”

Romelle gently holds the young man, letting his bury his face into her shoulder. Thoughts race through his head, the ‘what-if’s, the ‘if-only’s. Did Kolivan think of him as he died? Did he believe they would meet up again in the after-life? Did he arrive there only to be alone? 

The Altean rubs his back with one hand and combs through his hair with the other, humming some soft melody. 

He only pulls away when his name is shouted from the level below. 

Carefully, he stands with the help of Romelle, and wobbles his way over to the edge of the hole. Lance stands at the bottom, looking up.

“You need to get down here.”

Leo tilts his head weakly but nonetheless sits at the edge, letting his legs dangle over. Coran kneels behind him, grabbing his arms and helping lower him down. Lance guides him down and keeps the older boy steady when he drops down. He stands upright, trying to regain balance as Lance pulls him over to a section of this level of the cavern. As Leo looks up, his breath catches.

“Koli? Oh, oh god, we need to get him down. Is he…?” He starts to panic, the ache in his chest only growing stronger. He takes a step towards the Galra suspended in the air.

Keith is next to him now, gently touching his shoulder, “He’s alive.”

\----------------

Leo hunches over Kolivan who lays his head in the young man’s lap, tears dripping down his face and wetting the light fur on Kolivan’s cheeks. Leo rests his small hands on the sides of Kolivan’s face.

“He’s in pretty bad shape,” Pidge says after they scanned Kolivan, “But it looks like he’s going to be okay.”

Leo feels more tears drip down his face, a shaky smile on his face, “Thank the Gods.”

“I… I’m sorry my code lured you here,” Kolivan’s voice is weak and it breaks Leo’s heart.

“There was nothing you could do.” Keith states, “The coordinates I gave you, the Altean colony, were you able to find it?”

“I sent a team. There was nothing there. Just an empty facility. They were all gone.” Kolivan’s breath is heavy and his sentences short.

There’s a pause.

“Judging from the blades Macidus has collected,” Krolia turns her head towards the blades littering the wall, “he may have delivered a critical blow to the Mamora, but he did not defeat us entirely.”

Kolivan shifts in Leo’s lap, “I must find the others. The universe needs us now more than ever.”

“I will join you,” Krolia says, “We will revive the Blade of Mamora together. We just need to find a ship.”

“The Druid has a cruiser stored not far from here. We can use it to reunite the Blades,” Kolivan says, his voice straining slightly.

Krolia smiles a little, “That our first bit of luck in a long time.”

Kolivan nods and lets his eyes slip shut.

“Rest,” Krolia says softly, clasping his shoulder lightly, before standing and leaving the corner, Keith following after.

Leo rubs the sides of Kolivan’s face with his fingertips. The larger opens his eyes a crack, looking up at his small lover. Leo forces a smile onto his face.

“You scared me for a bit.”

“I’m sorry.”

Leo feels his shoulders relax, “Don’t be. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

He drags his fingers down to the long strip of white fur at the nape of Kolivan’s neck, “I love you so much.”

Kolivan sighs, his eyes closing again, “I thought I would never hear that again,” A small smile pulls at his mouth, “I love you, too.”

Leo gently brushes the long fur with his fingers, “I’m going need to rebraid this for you.” He sniffles, feeling his cheeks start to tighten from crying, “I’m coming with you.”

The Galra’s eyes open again, a frown appearing on his face, “You were heading home, though.”

“I can’t leave you again,” Leo pleads, “I’m scared and I want to go back to Earth, but… I love you, Koli.”

Kolivan shakes his head, “Go home for me, little one. I will come for you.”

Leo feels more tears and bites his lip, “But…”

“I want you to go home. I will meet you there once I reunite the Blades. I promise on my life.”

A few stray tears drip on Kolivan’s fur and Leo raises one hand, “Pinky promise?”

Kolivan lifts one hand, straining to bring it to wrap his pinky around Leo’s, “Pinky promise.”

Leo leans forward and places a light kiss to Kolivan’s lips, then rests his forehead against his, taking this moment to heart and ingraining it into his memories.


	2. Six Years Watching the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo spends each night, waiting for Kolivan to return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so i haven't finished season 7 yet, i've only seen up to episode 8 so far so i'm basing this off that. basically leo stays after voltron finishes up with liberating earth and six years pass. shiro returns to earth at some point and works with the garrison while the paladins keeping doing voltron things.

Staring at the stars is one of the few comforts Leo has had since he’s returned to Earth. Each night, when sleep doesn’t come for him, he sits on the balcony, curled up in a blanket with his silver blade in his hands and gazes to the sky. He imagines where the Paladins could be, where Kolivan could be and when he will return home to him.

When Voltron pushed the Galra occupation away from Earth and Earth joined the alliance, Leo had the opportunity to go back into space with Voltron, but he knew he wasn’t needed, he knew he would just be extra baggage, so he stayed to help with the rebuilding. His city was fortunate - it suffered little damage as it wasn’t near a Garrison base, as well as the surrounding towns which meant his mum and her dogs were safe. Seeing them definitely felt amazing and going back to his little apartment to see that some of his friends had kept everything clean and his snakes cared for made his heart warm.

But it felt empty.

Every day he would wake up feeling like he was missing something... missing someone.

Sleep rarely came to him, he was lucky if he got an hour or two a night. Those hours spent awake, his mind would be filled with worry over Kolivan’s wellbeing. He has tried to contact the Paladins to link him to Kolivan, but they often have their own problems to deal with and whenever they had time to spare, they hadn’t heard from Kolivan in a long while. He stopped trying after the second year. 

Tonight is no different.

He has been curled up under several blankets on his balcony nearly all night. Yule and Christmas are just around the corner and snow has dusted the ground. He can see clouds starting to roll in to recover the ground once more while the city sleeps. He lets out a sigh, his breath a small, white mist. He buries his face into the blankets, his cheeks and nose red from the cold. Leo groans, knowing his boss will lecture him in the morning when he goes into the florist with a running nose.

Looking up one last time, Leo shuffles to stand, gathering all the blankets in his arms and making sure he still has a good grip on his blade. He takes one last wistful glance to the sky, hoping that maybe he’ll see a ship coming into the atmosphere, before heading inside his little apartment. He hopes that maybe this year, he won’t be alone once more. Though, his mind pushes that thought away. He’s been alone for the past six years, this year won’t be any different. 

\--------------------

His phone wakes him up suddenly. Leo jolts upright in his bed and scrambles to shut off the ringer. He hits the answer button.

“Hello?” His voice is slurred from sleep.

“Leo?”  
Leo blinks, pulling his phone away looking at the time on his phone. 4:27 AM. He brings his phone back to his ear.

“Shiro? It’s like 2 AM there, what are you doing up?” He feels a slight raise in panic, hoping that something didn’t happen to the Paladins.

“It’s okay,” Shiro tried to calm the other man down after hearing the panic, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. We need you over here at the Garrison, though. We’re sending an airline ticket through to you as we speak. You’ll be leaving in about an hour.”

That doesn’t comfort Leo much.

“Alright. What’s going on?”

Shiro laughs a little, “It’s a surprise. Oh, and happy Yule, Leo. I’ll see you when you get here.”

The line cuts off, leaving Leo to stare off at the wall, then at his phone as he pulls it away from his ear. He furrows his eyebrows as a new email notification pops up at the top. Opening it, it is indeed an airline ticket to the Garrison base in Arizona. Leaving at 5:40 AM.

He groans and slides out of bed, throwing a bag together and some warm, comfortable clothes on, and leaving his little apartment.

\--------------------

Six hours later, Leo finds himself stripping off his jacket and his sweater as he makes his way off the airline. He grumbles to himself about the heat (even though it’s only 56° Fahrenheit). Shoving his sweater in his bag and tying his jacket around his waist, he heads toward the exit of the airport. 

He stops when he spots a familiar head of white hair in the crowd. A grin breaks across his face as he heads over in that direction.

Shiro stands in the centre of the arrivals terminal, his arms crossed over his chest. Leo notes that he finally looks like he got some rest in the past couple of years. The smaller wishes that the same could be said for him. When Shiro sees the smaller man, he smiles and waves, which is enough indicator for Leo to speed up and go for a tight hug.

Shiro laughs and rubs Leo’s back, “It’s good to see you again. It’s been much too long.”

“Yeah, no shit, man. How have you been?” Leo says pulling away from the hug.

“It’s been good, the Garrison keeps me busy,” Shiro rubs the back of his head, “Well, come on, we need to get going.”

Leo nods, “Gonna tell me what this is all about now?”

“Nope.” Shiro throws a grin to the smaller.

\------------------

The drive is calm, the two catch up on the past couple of years. Leo watches the scenery pass, the desert reminding him of a less saturated version of the desert from his home. It’s barely midday when the Garrison comes into view.

Shiro pulls up, parks, and gets out to grab Leo’s bag. The smaller huffs.

“I can get that, y’know.”

Shiro smiles, “I know, I’ve got it, don’t worry.”

Leo rolls his eyes, but doesn’t push it further. He follows Shiro inside the building and through dozens of doorways. The smaller quickly loses track of which rooms he’s been in and speeds up, walking alongside Shiro.

They pause at a door.

“Okay, you first,” Shiro says, moving off to the side a little.

Leo gives him a look of confusion but reaches for the door, pushing it open.

The room is large, with full windows on the opposite wall from the door, causing everything in the room to be a bit dark as it’s so bright outside. He squints as he enters the room, blinking to get adjusted to this light.

Someone stands from a chair facing the window. Leo covers his mouth with his hands.

“Hello, little one.”

Leo feels his world stop and he fears for a second that if he moves, the Galra in front of him will disappear. Kolivan simply opens his arms and that’s enough for Leo, who rushes to Kolivan and leaps at him, his arms around his neck and his fingers clutching the material of his shirt. Kolivan buries his face into Leo’s neck, clutching the smaller man to his body.

“You kept your promise.”

“Of course I did.”

Kolivan lowers himself to his knees, allowing Leo to stand once more. Even this low, Kolivan is still taller than Leo. The young man gently cups Kolivan’s face, rubbing his thumbs over his cheeks, feeling a few tears drip down his face. Kolivan’s hands rest on Leo’s hips.

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

Leo laughs, “You look more rugged. You got a new scar. And your braid is longer.”

Kolivan hums, closing his eyes. Leo leans forward, planting a light kiss to Kolivan’s lips, savouring the feel of his light fur.

As Leo pulls away, Kolivan brings a hand to the back of Leo’s head, running his claws through his short hair, “I have missed you so much.”

Leo scratches gently at Kolivan’s cheeks, “Me too. I tried to reach out, but the Paladins were always busy or too far away.”

The smaller drops his head to nuzzle into the crook of Kolivan’s neck, breathing in the familiar, comforting scent. He’s so scared that he’ll open his eyes and be back in his small, cold apartment, alone once more. Kolivan rubs his shoulders and back, which causes him to melt against the Galra, the tension and fear fading away.

“Let’s go home.”

Leo pulls back, tilting his head, “Home?”

“Yes,” Kolivan nods, resting his hand against Leo’s neck, “I am here to stay. If you will still have me.”

Fresh tears drip down Leo’s cheeks and a huge smile pulls at his lips and he nods, “Of course. I love you so much, Kolivan. I’ve waited so long for this.”

“And I love you, little one. I’m excited to see more of your home,” Kolivan says, standing again, but keeping his hands on the smaller.

Leo tangles their fingers together, finally feeling whole again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! i'll have the next chap posted tomorrow


End file.
